94 XJ .40 AC. Put a new serpentine belt on about a month and a half ago. had to readjust it about 3 weeks in. Now it's done it again. Put some marks on the power steering pump after the first time to see if it was moving...no movement. Can the belt(a Gaterback) stretch that much on it's own? Is there something that is unique to the Cherokee that would cause this?

 

Could be a defective belt i guess. Or maybe the adjusting bolt is stripped.

 

The adjusting bolt is brand new...guess why. The belt and pump are really the only two variables, and the pumps not moving so I'm tending to go with the belt. Bought from Rock Auto for cheap...might be a reason why it was cheap. I just thought there might be some odd Jeep thing causing it.

 

Are you sure the idler pulley bolt is tight?

 

That doesn't look like my setup. The adjustment bolt is on the power steering pump next to the air filter box. So that's either a newer model or an older model.

 

Is this your setup?



All 4 bolts tight after you adjusted the 5th one?

 

Yup. Even put a couple of reference marks to see if there was any pump movement. Marks still line up, so I either put the marks in the wrong place or it's a mystery.

 

How tight is tight???

 

Oh, just wanted to toss this out there. I had mine reasonably tight and still had slipping and chirping. It was new from O'Relies. Finally I dribbled some Dawn dish detergent and water on both sides of it with it idling. Then, everything still idling slow I ran water on it for a good while to rinse all the detergent. That did it. Still the faintest chirp, but problem solved. Sounds goofy I know. All I can guess is it had some sort of coating from the factory.